Obama Introduces New Initiative to Bolster IT Workforce

President Obama announced on Monday a new initiative, called TechHire, in an effort to address the immense shortage of IT industry professionals in careers like software development, network administration, coding and cybersecurity.

The campaign is set to launch in collaboration with more than 300 employers across 21 U.S. regions, who have announced plans to bolster recruiting, place applicants based on their skills, and create more fast-track tech training opportunities.

“While four-year degrees in engineering and computer science are still important, we have the opportunity to promote programs that we call, for example, ‘coding boot camp’ or online courses that have pioneered new ways to teach tech skills in a fraction of the time and the cost,” said President Obama at the National League of Cities Conference.

Source: TechHire

With more than half a million unfilled jobs within the information technology space today, the campaign highlighted that many of these high-paying jobs do not require advanced degrees but rather skills that can be learned in community colleges or through industry certified training programs.

“This doesn’t just apply to San Francisco. This doesn’t just apply to Boston. It applies access the board to every part of the country,” said President Obama. “There’s no industry that hasn’t been touched since this technology revolution.”

The Administration said it encourages more communities and employers to follow in the lead of adopting innovative strategies to advance these goals.